Imperial Crown

Anthony didn't dare to wipe the saliva on his face. If he made any unusual movements at this time, he had no doubt that this sensitive and suspicious Majesty would vent his anger on him.

In fact, he had never met Montreal in private, and this conversation was also fabricated by him.

But Anthony didn't worry that his lies would be exposed.

Because the facts were there.

The Fox family was indeed very close to the Church of Light, and they did not care about the face of the royal family and let Gul'dan defeat Akori. His Majesty, who was furious, would never invite Montreal to let the two families confront each other.

"Very good, I understand." Keynes XVI gradually took a breath and sat back at the table as if nothing had happened:

"This time, I have to trouble you to go back to Nord Province as soon as possible to take charge of the overall situation."

"The Luokui Plan can be started in advance."

Anthony suppressed a smile: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

He glanced at the map on the table again: "You have been looking at the map. Are you worried about the war?"

As a close minister of Keynes XVI, Anthony knew that the empire would face a war sooner or later.

Speaking of which, this war is also related to the Death Hand Cult.

5 years ago, a high-grade magic crystal mine that had never been mined and had extremely rich reserves was discovered on the border of Ina Province in the northeast of the empire. It was mainly composed of level 3 and level 4 magic crystals, and the highest grade could even reach level 6.

The total reserves are currently difficult to ascertain, but according to the estimation of the court wizard, even if tens of thousands of people are invested in excavation, it will be enough to mine for at least 200 years.

This scale and this reserve of magic crystal mine can be said to be the largest newly discovered in the entire continent in the past 300 years.

You know, the reason why Wangdu Mingnaijia City was able to rise is because it is adjacent to a magic crystal mine, and the highest grade of it is only level 5.

At the beginning of the discovery, the empire sent 4 royal legions to guard it, and then moved 600,000 people to build a city on the spot.

This kind of news cannot be concealed, and naturally attracted the attention of the northern neighbor, the Insa Empire.

The two countries have been in constant friction since ancient times. Although there has been no large-scale war in recent years, the border line has been changing due to small frictions and has not been clarified yet.

The location where the magic crystal mine was discovered, now known as the "Makik City", is the disputed territory between the two sides.

Based on this, the Insa Empire proposed joint development through diplomatic means, and the Keynes Empire of course rejected it sternly.

Originally, this would have been a long time to argue, but four years ago, the Death Hand Cult caused trouble in many places at the same time, and only the Keynes Empire reacted the most slowly and handled it the most ugly.

This made the Insa Empire think about it and began to continuously deploy troops on the border, and the Keynes Empire also made preparations for war.

Today's Majik City is like a kerosene barrel, and no one knows when it will be ignited.

"I am indeed thinking about the war." Keynes XVI put one foot on the chair and hugged his knees: "But there is nothing to worry about. There are 27 legions stationed on the border now. Although the 'Winter Legion' of the Insa Empire is eyeing it covetously, my 'Blood Rage Legion' is by no means a vegetarian."

"The food stored on the border now is enough for the 100,000 troops to eat for two years."

Swiping his finger on the map, Keynes XVI said: "As soon as this spring is over, our army will immediately launch an offensive!"

Anthony walked to the map and hesitated: "Although Although I am not good at war, Your Majesty, the city of Majik is in our hands after all. If we delay for one more day, we can get more benefits. Why rush to go to war with the Insa Empire? "

"In this way, it will not only give other countries an excuse..."

"Okay, I know what you want to say." Keynes XVI waved his hand to interrupt him: "Ferdinand also said these words to me, but I have sent him to the northeast front. Do you want to go too?"

Anthony squeezed out a flattering smile: "Your Majesty, I just said it casually, and I have to help later You stabilized the Nord Province, didn't you? "

"I know, you all think I'm too ambitious." This time, Keynes XVI did not let him off easily: "But you have to understand one thing, it's better to attack than to defend."

"It is precisely because this attack is unreasonable that I want to organize an offensive. Only by attacking first can we seize the initiative and catch the opponent off guard!"

At this point, Keynes XVI's eyes flashed with enthusiasm: "This will wash away the shame of the war 60 years ago in one fell swoop."

"This time, I will fight until the Insa Empire cedes land and asks for peace!"

"When the time comes, I want to see which country dares to gossip!"

King XVI's excitement came and went quickly, and he immediately focused on Anthony: "This time when I go to the Nord Province, in addition to the Luokui Project, you have to help me guard against the Church of Light. These damn termites are not satisfied with sucking blood from the empire, but they even want to parasitize it!"

Marquis Anthony saluted respectfully: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

The war at the empire level is still brewing, but in Snow Maple County, Nord Province, there is an imminent small war.

Koga Territory, Koga Town.

Wesassin sat in the castle, wearing armor, his face full of clouds, looking at the map on the table with a frown.

Since the end of the competition, his life has been getting worse and worse, and the entire Koga Territory has been getting worse and worse.

The first to be hit was the escort business. Four teams were intercepted and killed in succession, and the bodies were piled up in retaliation. This was a clear threat and warning.

This was obviously someone who had offended someone, but Wesassin could not figure out who did it. After all, although he had enemies, there were not many who had the ability to do so.

The most suspicious person was Raven.

But the problem was that Wesassin's escort business was not a day or two, and there was no conflict between the two families recently. If Raven wanted to do it, he would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?

In order to save himself, Wesassin, who was confused, did not hesitate to do the escort work himself and successfully completed two orders.

But this did not make his escort business pick up. In the past two months, he has not received a single business.

Not being able to do the escort business only reduced a means of making money. The specialty products in his territory are still valuable.

However, just last month, the two trade routes leading to the outside world were blocked by soldiers. Outside merchants could not come in, and his freight team could not go out.

And the one who sent troops to intercept was Viscount Broca!

This made no sense at all. Wesacim thought there was some misunderstanding, so he suppressed his anger and wrote to Broca in a humble tone, wanting to find out the reason.

But the letter sent back was extremely fierce, scolding Wesacim and even forcing Wesacim to go to Xiecha to plead guilty and apologize!

After receiving the reply, Wesacim was furious.

Although you, Broca, are a viscount, we are not subordinate to each other. It's okay for you to find fault for no reason, but now you dare to insult me ​​so confidently?

So Wesacim made a decision that he regretted until now - he led a team of cavalry to forcibly break through the trade route in the southwest of the territory and annihilated a small team under Broca's command.

This stirred up a hornet's nest. Viscount Broca immediately issued a public statement, severely condemning Wesasi's bad behavior through the Sky Eagle platform and other channels, claiming that this was a provocation and aggression. If Wesasi refused to apologize and compensate, Broca would take the most brutal revenge.

Looking at the statement, Wesasi almost laughed out of anger.

It was your army, Broca, that blocked the door of my territory. I was just passively counterattacking. Do you still have any shame?

He also issued a statement in return, but was surprised to find that the nobles of other counties did not express their opinions on this, and in Xuefeng County, the mainstream voice was to support Broca!

Especially Lady Doreen, who accused Wesasi of his past bad behavior on the Sky Eagle platform with all her might, and said that if Viscount Broca needed it, she could also send troops at the same time.

Then, the situation ran all the way out of control.

Bloka really led the army into the Koga territory of Versacem, and that night, he massacred and burned a village of 700 people.

Versacem was really panicked at this time.

He had a battalion of 500 full-time soldiers under his command. Although most of them were cavalry, the elite were only a squadron of less than 100 people.

And Bloka went all out, assembling an army of 2,000 people, especially a large number of enchanted crossbows that were a specialty of his family. The offensive was so strong that Versacem had no chance of winning in the field battle!

He could only send letters for help everywhere, but all of them fell on deaf ears. Even Baron Seleva, who was adjacent to his territory and had always been in the same boat with him, chose to play dead, as if he had never received his letter.

Only the Slater family responded, and the credible content made Versacem even more disappointed.

"Respected Baron Wesassin Ota Kovoga, I have heard of your request, but I don't know the cause of this friction, so it is inconvenient for me to intervene. But I hope that you can sit down and have a good talk with Viscount Bloka to avoid bloodshed."

If we could sit down and talk, we would have talked a long time ago. I don't need you to say it!

All methods have been tried. Seeing Bloka's army approaching day by day, Wesassin was so worried that he couldn't even eat.

"Baron." The butler knocked on the open door: "Bloka's army is coming!"

Hearing this, Wesassin froze, then picked up the helmet and put it on: "I'll go to the city wall to see."

When he rode out of the castle on horseback, Wesassin saw the ground was in ruins and mess.

The town was alarmed, and the people screamed and ran back to their houses. The roadside vendors had already run away and disappeared, and the goods were scattered all over the ground and trampled with the mud.

Vesasi was in a more and more depressed mood. He soon came to the top of the city and saw Broca's army.

2,000 troops formed a square formation and lined up in a row, stopping about a mile outside the castle.

The military appearance was not very strict and neat, but every soldier was wearing iron-faced leather armor produced by Eagle Territory, which looked gray even in the sun, like a dark cloud sinking to the ground.

There were about 100 light cavalrymen on each wing, and in the center of the formation, there were about 200 heavy infantrymen wearing heavy armor, which must be Broca's elite "Silver Yak Corps".

A knight came forward: "Baron! What should we do?"

Vesasi waved his hand to signal him to be quiet, took a deep breath and shouted loudly: "Broca! Since you dare to send troops to attack me, dare to meet me in person!?"

The army separated from it, and a knight in heavy armor slowly walked out and took off his mask about 50 meters below the city wall.

"Howell!?" Wesassin frowned: "Why you? Ask your father to come and see me!"

"My father said that Baron Wesassin is irritable and rude. If he comes and is attacked by your crossbows, it will be too worthless." Howell responded loudly.

Wesassin's face turned purple with anger, but before he could refute, Howell continued: "My father has nothing to say to people like you. I just hope you can open the city and surrender to end this meaningless conflict!"

"Shameless, extremely shameless!" Wesassin gritted his teeth: "You, the Leon family, killed my soldiers and invaded my territory, and now you come to condemn me and ask me to open the city and surrender!?"

Howell's face remained unchanged: "It seems that you are going to resist to the end. In this case, don't blame us for being ruthless!"

After speaking, he put down his armor, turned his horse's head, and drove towards the main camp.

The knight next to him stepped forward and said, "Baron, the crossbow is ready. Do you want to teach him a lesson?"

"Idiot!" Wesassin suppressed his anger: "He is Brocka's only son. If he dies here, it will be a fight to the death."

The knight next to him was stunned and secretly complained in his heart - they are already at the gates of the city, and you are still thinking about this?

But it was too late to persuade him, because Howell had returned to the army and could no longer be seen.

Knowing that his actions just now seemed a bit cowardly, Wesassin said wisely: "You don't have to worry. They came from afar to fight, and logistics supply is a big problem."

"Kojia Town has always been one of the most dangerous passes in Xuefeng County. Brocka can't attack it!"

"Hold on, as long as another month or two, he will take the initiative to ask for peace."

Wesassin was not pretending.

Kojia Town is already quite high, with a wall as high as 5 meters. Now it is winter, and you only need to pour water on the top of the city to form an ice layer, and even the ladder will be difficult to put up.

As long as spring comes and the ground becomes muddy, Bloka's logistics supply will be in urgent need. If he wants to leave the scene in a dignified manner, it depends on whether Visasinn agrees!

In the following period of time, things developed as Visasinn judged. Bloka symbolically launched several attacks, but none of them succeeded.

Although the entire town of Koga entered a wartime state, it gradually got rid of the panic atmosphere.

And Visasinn was finally able to have a good sleep.

Anyway, the territory has been almost ruined, and spring plowing cannot be caught up. As long as the town is defended, how bad can it be?

On January 27, 1197 in the Guangming calendar, the 21st day of the siege, early morning.

Visasinn was sleeping in his warm bed.

He had a good dream. He dreamed that he took advantage of Bloka's poor logistics and hasty retreat, and led his elite cavalry to pursue and chase the enemy all the way north!

First he caught Howell, then he went straight to Brocka's flag. Just when he was about to kill Brocka, a fierce knock on the door suddenly sounded:

"Baron, it's bad!"

"Stop yelling!" Wesassin sat up impatiently and threw his pointed nightcap on the bed: "Come in!"

Seeing the butler's anxious look, Wesassin said dissatisfiedly: "What happened? Is it worth your anxiety? Can Brocka still break in?"

The butler's face was full of panic, and his voice was shaking: "Not yet, but it will be really soon if it goes on like this!"

Wesassin scolded: "What nonsense? Why does he Brocka..."

Swoosh-bang!

A huge rock smashed the window, and the wood and stone flew on the ground, and the butler was stuck to the wall with a bang.

Ding.

Buzz, buzz, buzz...

The oval boulder covered with blood and flesh shook on the ground.

Versacine took off half of his bloody arm from his shoulder, and his pupils shrank to the size of a needle tip:

"——Catapult!?"

...